SAN MARCOS — Student government on Palomar College is at its highest participation in years.

The Associated Student Government (ASG) board consists of 14 senate positions, seven delegate seats, as well a seat for president and vice-president respectively. With the appointment of its newest delegate, Dalton Mullinax, it has filled its last board position.

“That was one of my first goals, was to fill this board,” President of the ASG, Chris Hopp said. “I’m enthusiastic in that we will be able to accomplish more.”

When the former president of the ASG, Malik Spence, took office just two years ago, the first meeting held was him and one other member.

Hopp credits the increased participation to improved recruiting tactics, and word of mouth. “We had quite a bit of success with week of welcome bringing in a number of people to start out with,” Hopp said.

Members of the ASG have also largely recruited within their own classrooms, Spence would often approach his classmates to ask them if they would be interested in joining the ASG.

However, although the ASG has filled the last of its available seats, Hopp acknowledges that it will still be some time before it can operate at full capacity. “We do a retreat in the fall and in the spring, and that includes a lot of training,” Hopp said “If you join before those retreats happen, that helps to bring [them up to] speed. If you join after those then there is a learning curve.”

Regardless, the filling of the ASG board is a welcoming prospect for the student community, as the level of student representation on shared governance committees is greatly increased.